


Every Second is Electric like a Thousand Volts

by haaaveyoumetted



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bickering, Boss/Employee Relationship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I mean idk if you can really call them enemies? but they def DO NOT GET ALONG AT FIRST, Lawyer Ben Solo, Single Dad Ben Solo, idk how to tag, single parent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23593933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haaaveyoumetted/pseuds/haaaveyoumetted
Summary: Based on the Curious Cat Prompt: "Rey and Ben are enemies at work. Single dad Ben brings his daughter to the on-site childcare Resistance Inc. provides. Ben doesn't realize Rey's been spending time there until his daughter says her first word: Rey."
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 96
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	Every Second is Electric like a Thousand Volts

If you asked Rey what her favorite time of day was, she'd smile and without hesitation reply with 'lunch time'. She knew that it wasn't a particularly unique answer to the question, but her _reasoning_ behind it was what tended to catch people off guard. She didn't spend her lunch hour in the break room for the department or at any of the unique little cafes that spanned the entire street at ground level. She didn't go home to make lunch or spend time at her desk catching up on projects that started to pile up during this time of year nor did she use the time to catch up on social media. 

Every day at 12:30pm she took the elevator down to the second level of the building and into the one room in the entire 20 story building that brought a smile to her face no matter what else was going on in her life; the childcare center. 

Rey didn't have any children of her own- she'd never even really considered whether she might want them someday- until she started spending her lunch hours here. She'd dated casually throughout the last few years but nothing every got anywhere near serious enough to warrant having a conversation like that.

And so, it stayed far far in the depths of her mind. Until she got hired at Resistance Law LLC. a little under 6 months ago. 

Now she spent her time trying NOT to think about it and getting all of her urges out by spending an hour with the children of other people who worked at her company. It was at least a temporary fix that seemed to be working, so far. As far as dealing with it long term, well, that was future Rey's problem as far as she was concerned. 

"I still think you missed your calling", Rose insisted, as she hoisted one of the many rowdy toddlers that hobbled around onto her hip. "I mean you're just _so good_ with the kids. They take to you so well." 

Rey smiled brightly as she bounced her favorite baby on her knee. She probably wasn't supposed to have a favorite, but no one needed to know. "I don't know why... I mean, I didn't grow up with parents or with siblings..." she shrugged. "I guess it's because I tried to look out for all the younger ones when I could when I was around." 

Rose smiled softly. "It might have something to do with that, it might not. Maybe you just have wonderful natural maternal instincts." 

Rey shook her head. "I guess it's possible. BUT the brilliant thing about my job is that I have wonderful friends who work in the childcare department and lets me get all of occasional baby fever moments out by spending time with other people's children. That way, I don't have to worry about having my own right this very second." 

Rose laughed. "Hey, it benefits the both of us. You know that Kaydel and I can always use an extra set of hands down here." She glanced around at the chaos pointedly. 

The kids definitely had a lot of energy, but they seemed well-behaved enough when she was around. Maybe she always got lucky during the hour she spent down there. 

"Y'know, it'll never stop amusing me that Solo's daughter clings to you whenever you're down here." Rose stated.

Kaydel snorted. "God, can you imagine if he knew how much she adores you. He'd lose his goddamn mind." 

Rey couldn't help but laugh along. "Let's hope that day never has to come, yeah? Huh, Amelia? Little Mia." She cooed, smiling as the baby squeaked and cooed excitedly back at her, her tiny hands reaching out to tug at her necklace. "Your daddy does not like me very much little one." 

She heard Kaydel choking down another laugh. 

"What?" Rey asked, "We all know it's true." Rey shrugged; her eyes still glued to Amelia as she kept her entertained. 

"It's not like you're very fond of him either, Rey." Rose responded, setting the toddler down onto the giant foam puzzle pieces in the center of the room. "I've never heard you talk about him once without having something to complain about." 

"Yes well, if you had to interact with him every day for more than the 5 seconds it takes him to drop off and pick Mia up, you'd probably complain too." Rey defended. "In fact, you all interact with him during the best part of his day- getting reunited with his daughter. No way you've seen him in a terrible mood like the rest of us have." 

Rose hummed in contemplation. "I suppose so." 

Rey sighed, “Well Amelia, unfortunately play time is over for us today.” She carefully stood, sliding the baby to her hip as she walked over to hand her to Rose.

Rose shook her head as Amelia fussed, clearly not happy with the prospect of Rey leaving for the day. “She’s getting attached to you Rey. At her age, it’s normal that she’s starting to form real emotional connections to people.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Rey asked as she bit at her bottom lip. “If you think it’d be better if I stopped coming around for a while…”

“I just… think you need to be aware of what this means to her. People that she sees consistently… she’s familiar with you. If you stop coming around- you interrupt the day-to-day she’s gotten used to, be eventually she’ll adjust. I’m not telling you what to do.” Rose explained. “It feels like we get to live in our own little bubble down here… but I don’t want things to get worse between you and Ben if he finds out and then all of a sudden Amelia is caught in the middle.”

“No, you’re right.” Rey quickly replied. “As much as hanging out in here helps me sort through what’s going on in my life and in my head, I haven’t been considering …” she swallowed thickly. “I think I’m going to start exploring some of those cafes you’ve mentioned.”

Rose nodded in understanding. “We will definitely find a night this week to go grab drinks after work, because I’m _not_ giving up my girl time with you completely.”

“ _God_ I’m going to need it. If I get to the end of the week without ripping all of my hair out it’ll be a miracle.” Re groaned. “These deadlines are killer, especially when Mr. Big Shot Partner likes to drag his feet.”

Rose laughed. “Amazing. I think that was like a whole 5 minutes of talking and you _only_ insulted him once. I’m proud of your restraint.”

“Oh come off it, I’m not that bad” Rey responded and joined in the laughter. “I need to get back to my desk, but I’ll text you later about finding a night to go out.”

“I’m holding you to that! Don’t let all those projects overwhelm you, I know it’s a tough time of year for all of you.” Rose replied.

“I’ll do my best” Rey assured, “Have a good day, tell Kaydel I said she should come out with us!”

“Will do my love!” Rose replied, hoisting one of the children clinging to her legs onto her hip.

This was the first time in a very, very long time that Rey had left the childcare center in lower spirits than she had entered. It was a sobering feeling in a way, realizing how much joy this part of her day actually contributed to her overall happiness. She had so much hinging on this singular hour in her day, and now she had made the decision to cut it out completely. She cursed herself in her head for even letting something like this happen. It had all seemed innocent enough from her perspective; _how_ she didn’t manage to take into account how the children she was spending her time with would be affected, she’d forever question. As a child who was left with nothing but a first name, she should know better; she should know what it’s like to long for meaningful, lasting connections, only to have people in your life disappear or to be ripped away from you. Amelia was still a baby, but that didn’t mean she was stupid. She had already begun recognizing Rey- reaching for her as soon as she entered the room.

She let her head fall back against the cool metal of the elevator as the doors closed. It lurched slightly as it rose slowly to the 20th floor. She wasn’t foolish enough to think she’d really be able to focus on her work for the rest of the day; and knowing Mr. Solo, he wouldn’t leave her with much choice. She’d bet millions of dollars she didn’t have that he didn’t have her case files ready for her.

If there was anything in the office, she was already tired of after her short 6 months with the company, it was trying to force Ben Solo into being a cooperative, somewhat tolerable boss and human being. It hadn’t been going well for her so far. There were days when she wondered how she hadn’t been fired. She’d never quite snapped at anyone like she found herself snapping at Ben and she just couldn’t put a finger on _what it was_ about him that drove her mad like this.

She was going to have to talk to him today. She could feel it in her bones. Her day was only going to get worse from here.

X x X x X x X x X

There was only _one_ thing keeping him from throwing the phone on his desk across the room. 

It wasn't the assistant they hired in an attempt to make his life easier. 

It sure _as hell_ wasn't the other Partners at the firm that ‘helped keep the company from devolving into chaos’. 

It definitely wasn't the fact that his mother and father had run the company for most of their lives and they were _extremely eager_ to offer him advice; whether he asked for it or not.

He had a wonderful career for a man his age, and although he appreciated the security in life that it afforded him, there would always be something that mattered more than anything that could provide _him_ with. 

No. What mattered more than anything in the world was the girl who was currently 18 floors below him in the on-site childcare center. The employees running that particular department had been subjected to the highest level of rigorous background checks that they were legally allowed to run on prospective new hires. It was the _only_ department in the entire company that brought in no income, and yet, the investment in it... there was no price tag Ben wasn't willing to pay if it meant she was given the best of the best. 

Amelia Solo was currently 13 months old, and from the moment she came into the world, Ben's entire life and all of his priorities shifted completely. Even when Amelia's mother was around... he never loved her the way he loved his beautiful baby girl. Her mother hadn't been in the picture long after she was born, and it had torn Ben apart in a way he never dreamed he'd have to deal with. Knowing she loved him, but not enough to stay when a child was involved- that the change was too much for her- there was once a time when he didn't know if he'd ever get past it. 

Being a single parent had never been part of his plan. There are very few people he'd met that actually _plan_ for it to happen that way. But he wouldn't change it for the world. He had the constant support of his mother and father, and having hand-picked the staff at the childcare center, he felt less anxious about not being with her throughout the day. It had been far from easy getting to where he was now, and there were still days that he struggled, but he was making progress. 

Just thinking about her was putting the start of a smile on his face.

"Excuse me, Mr. Solo?"

He had to use all of the self-restraint he had in his body not to snap at the woman that kepy phone calls and visitors out of his office when he wasn’t in the mood- which was most of the time lately. He took a few deep breaths before hitting the button on his phone that connected him to his assistant. "Yes Gwen?" 

He tiredly ran a hand over his face as he awaited the details of whatever disaster she was about to pass on to him. "Ms. Johnson needs your approval on the case files she submitted to you back by the end of the day. She requested that I follow up with you on the progress."

Ben scoffed audibly, leaning back in his chair. "Oh did she? Well, I must have missed the company memo where she's a newly appointed Partner at the company."

"Sir?" 

"I mean _clearly_ her schedule is so much busier than mine, needing those files by the end of the day when she only gave them to me on Monday." Ben continued. 

"What would you like me to tell her, sir?" Gwen replied. She had learned a long time ago that it wasn't worth indulging him. He would complain about Rey Johnson for hours if you let him, and frankly at this point, she felt she had heard it all at least twice. 

"Tell Ms. Johnson that I will have her case files back to her by the end of the week, and if she has an issue with my timeline, she can speak to me directly." Ben replied, pulling the files out from the pile at the corner of his desk. "Is that all, Ms. Phasma?" 

"For the moment, sir. I will pass that along." 

The line cut out and Ben blew out a deep breath as he began flipping through the pages. It absolutely _pained him_ to admit it, but Ms. Johnson was talented. She worked quickly and efficiently and had an eye for details that a lot of others didn't. That wasn't his problem with her. 

His problems started with how she _refused_ to work with him. She always found problems with the cases he had for her; reasons why they weren't a priority, reasons why she was morally against handling them, reasons why she couldn't work _on his timeline._ She was infuriating. It was like it was impossible for her to be agreeable when it came to anything he touched. He was a Partner at the firm, for fuck's sake. But that didn't seem to deter her from being difficult at every opportunity. She had only been with them since the beginning of the year, and prior to that, she was fresh out of school. She was confident in her abilities, and Ben admired that- but she also had a lot to learn and she was one of the most stubborn individuals he had ever met; and that was saying a lot, considering who his parents were.

The other problem was that everyone else seemed to love her. 

Even in the position of power he found himself in, there were still things he couldn't do. Wouldn't do? He wasn't even sure anymore. As much of a pain in this ass she was in his daily schedule, she was everyone else's first or second pick to deal with case files and he did not have the energy to deal with the backlash if he let his personal feelings get the best of him by letting her go. He was supposed to be beyond all that anyway. At least, he was trying to be. 

He continued to flip through the files she had given him early in the week, assessing the current state of them and if he’d be able to fit completing them in with the rest of the items on his schedule for the day. He made a decision that if he reached the last hour of his day and had time to spare, he’d look into it. That would have to be good enough for now.

He smirked to himself, wondering how long it would take Ms. Johnson to storm into his office in a huff if he hadn’t handed them over by then. It didn’t matter how many times he told Phasma not to let her in without asking him first, she always found her way around it. He still wasn’t sure if he was impressed by her tenacity or annoyed that she so blatantly disregarded the boundaries he had set for his office.

It didn’t take long for Ben to fall into a rhythm after that. He was the head attorney on several cases that were all at pivotal points that needed his attention. If it had been a year ago, he would be practically spending the night at the office; flicking the light off and stumbling his way down the hall and into the elevator at almost midnight. Sometimes that was what it took to get the results he needed.

But that wasn’t his life anymore. He had to put all of his time and energy during more normal working hours into accomplishing everything he needed to. After the childhood that he had, growing up with the busy, workaholic parents that he did, he’d made himself promise that his work life and his home life had to be separate. So, he worked through lunch most days, and sometimes if he _absolutely needed to,_ he would take case files home to work on only after Amelia had been put to sleep.

On top of that, there were other cases that the Partners were handling that needed reviewing and sign offs before they were presented to clients or the courts. There were case files in various stages with paralegals and legal secretaries and some of the junior lawyers that needed his attention. It was a never-ending cycle, and he was at the very center of it all.

So, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him that the next time he looked up from the piles of work scattered around his desk, it was nearing 4:00pm. It probably should have concerned him that the only reason he was pulled from his focus on his work was a sudden loud, insistent knocking on his office door. There were very few people who knocked on his door to get in touch with him when they needed something. He could already feel the headache coming on as he mentally sorted through the few individuals it could possibly be.

“MR. SOLO!”

He couldn’t stop the audible groan that fell from his lips. He’d recognize that voice- _that accent-_ anywhere. Before he could even decide how to reply, the door to his office was pushed open and a fiery, petite brunette was suddenly a few feet from his desk.

Today she was dressed in a pair of black heels that he definitely didn’t notice she wore often, a tight black pencil skirt that hit just above her knees, a dark green blouse covered by a black blazer that hit just below her elbows. Her hair was tied up in the peculiar way it always was- three buns tied behind her head.

“Ms. Johnson, to what do I owe this completely unannounced visit?” Ben asked as he leaned back in his chair.

“Do you really need to ask that question, Mr. Solo?” She replied, eyebrows raised in expectation.

“You think you’re the only one in this entire office that needs case files from me?” Ben replied. He learned how to play this game with her a few months into her being in the office.

“Mr. Solo, I really don’t have time for this. Do you have my case files ready, yes or no?” Rey responded, a bite of irritation lacing her words.

“And you think I have time for this? I have 3 high profile cases that need my attention, and at least 10 other paralegals that need me to review their files right now, right this very second.” Ben shot back. He wasn’t going to back down, even if it meant wasting precious minutes that he could be getting work done.

“You’ve had mine since Monday!”

“AND?! It’s been two days! I’ll need at least until the end of the week to get them back to you! Any _reasonable_ person with experience would know that!”

“REASONABLE?! Is that a joke!?” Rey nearly shrieked. “How is it unreasonable for me to want work done in a timely manner?”

“I don’t even think you have a concept of what time looks like doing my job, in my position! There’s _no way_ you could understand what kind of pressure I’m under, what my workload looks like.” Ben seethed, trying to keep his voice down. As crazy as she drove him in moments like this, he’d spent the last few years really trying to get his temper under control. He didn’t want to lose it completely and start screaming at her; or worse, throwing things around his office.

“ _You’re the one_ who took that position! How is it _my fault_ that you are having problems with the workload.” Rey huffed, crossing her arms under her chest.

“What is your problem with me, Ms. Johnson? Do you barge into all the other Partners’ offices like this and just start demanding things and making accusations?” Ben asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I don’t _have to._ They do their jobs and communicate with me about the progress, like normal people.” Rey replied.

“I will get Phasma to let you know when your files are ready.” Ben replied as he opened one of the folders on his desk. It effectively ended the conversation, as far as he was concerned.

He heard her huff in frustration, his attention no longer on her or her concerns. “Fine. Try to get them to me by the end of the week.”

The sound of her footsteps followed by his door opening and closing set him at ease; allowed him to release some of the tension that had built up in his shoulders. 

If he hadn’t had the start of a headache before she walked in the room, her certainly did now. Thank God he only had about 45 minutes of work left for the day.


End file.
